by D. Breeze
It was plain to see he didn’t want to. He wanted to argue, in fact he looked like he needed to punch something, or someone, but he didn’t. He sat down on the hard metal chairs decorating the waiting room, but made sure he threw one last glare his son’s way, just for good measure. It was pathetic and childish, a grown man, an adult, glaring at his son because he told him how it is.
Yeah, pathetic.
Chapter five
Relief
Two hours. Seriously, two whole hours, we sat in the waiting room, everyone looking like they were lost in their own world. We didn’t hear a thing, didn’t see a nurse, a doctor, no one. He wasn’t my family, my friend, heck, I didn’t even like Harvey, yet I was so nervous waiting for the news.
I couldn’t bear to think about what Jamie and Cheryl must have been feeling. I say Jamie and Cheryl, frankly because Mr Travis looked more pissed off about having to be there, than upset about his son being hurt and he didn’t deserve my sympathy.
It was odd for me, usually I think the best of everyone, even if they don’t really deserve it. I’ve never been mean to anyone in my life and I rarely even thought bad things. But Mr Travis just made my skin crawl, and for the life of me, I just couldn’t figure out why. There’d be a reason though, I knew there would.
So no, he didn’t get my sympathy.
When the doors swung open, I didn’t even look up. By that point so many different members of staff had wondered through that it seemed pointless. It was different then though, the doctor started towards us. I watched as everyone visibly stiffened at his approach, bracing for news of their loved one.
“Mr and Mrs Travis?”
“Yes.” Mr Travis answered.
His reply was short and to the point. But it was sharp, rude and I didn’t like it. He really was a horrible man.
“Mr Travis, your son is being kept in the ICU to be monitored for the next twenty-four hours. He sustained an injury to the head, resulting in a compound fracture on the left side of his skull. Now I’ll be honest with you, he is stable, but he is not out of danger yet. We will not be able to assess the full extent of any further damage to the brain until he is awake. However due to the severity of the fracture, we have placed him into a medically induced coma to reduce the risk of swelling on the brain. He also has two broken ribs on his left side, his left leg was broken, quite severely I might add and there were three broken metatarsals.” He paused to let the news sink in. Then continued.
“I have to say Mr Travis, he’s very lucky to be alive. However, regardless of any further injury to the brain that we may discover, he will need the assistance of a wheelchair for at least two to four months when he is released. Extensive physiotherapy will be required and he will need home support for a while. If you don’t have someone available to provide that, I can get you the number for the residential nurses programme that can help. You are able to go and see him now, but as I said, he is in a coma so he won’t wake up. Talk to him, and give him comfort, it’s recommended. We only allow two visitors to each bed at a time, so two of you will have to wait here, and two of you can follow me.”
I stayed where I was sat, knowing I had no right to be the first one in there. I wasn’t even really sure I wanted to go in there, at all. I was trying to forget the whole scene I had witnessed.
Mr and Mrs Travis scurried out of the doors behind the doctor, not even sparing Jamie a second glance. I understood that they were desperate to see their son, but he was still Jamie’s brother and he was hurting too.
I wanted to lean into him and offer him some comfort, but I didn’t really know how much he would allow that, so I sat close enough for him to come to me if he needed and stayed silent.
Not two minutes later, he didn’t even speak, just rested his head on my shoulder and placed his hand in mine. It was such a strange feeling, so much contact, I wasn’t used to it. I still couldn’t help but feel almost elated at the warmth that spread across my skin at his touch. I loved that he was comfortable enough around me to feel like he could do it.
We had been sitting in silence for about fifteen minutes when he whispered, “How did you know?”
I thought about pretending I didn’t know what he was talking about. I had even held out a tiny ray of hope that throughout all the emotional distress and worrying, he may have conveniently forgotten about how we even found Harvey. But alas, that was not the case. I never have been that lucky.
“I can’t tell you” I answered, still holding out on the chance that he might just let it go. No, I was wrong about that too.
“Was it a set up? Someone out to hurt him? Who caused it? And how do you know? Did you overhear someone talking? I need to know, Ree.”
I turned my head and looked down at his, still resting on my shoulder, he was watching my face. I looked into his eyes, wondering if I could trust him. I felt sick, I didn’t even know if I could do it, but the need to tell someone was fierce and he had to believe me. He’d seen what I can do.
I took a deep breath, and tried to explain in the easiest way I could. “Jamie, you have to know, this isn’t something anyone else has done. I don’t know the details of how he hit that tree or anything like that, but I know that no one was involved. I know that because, well, I saw it Jamie.”
“No you didn’t, you weren’t there. That’s ridiculous.” He interrupted, looking confused, if not slightly angry with me.
“You’re not going to understand this.” My voice raised slightly in frustration, so I tried to calm my nerves and tried again. “I see things, often. In my mind. Visions I guess, things that have happened, things that are happening or will eventually happen. It’s a form of psychic ability I suppose. I couldn’t tell your future, and I can’t control what I do or don’t see. They just come whenever they feel like it and I have no control over them. I don’t remember when it started, I’ve had them for as long as I can remember. I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I’m not normal, but I’ll leave you alone now and I’ll just go home. Just please, I’m begging you, do me one thing, just one. Don’t tell anyone about this. They’d never understand.”
He had shifted away from me slightly at some point when I was speaking but I held his eyes, slightly pleading with him to keep my secret. His face was blank. Completely void of any emotion. I’d read about people looking like that before, but I’d never actually witnessed it.
He opened his mouth to speak, but seemed to be struggling to find the right thing to say, so I stood to leave. I didn’t want him looking at me like I was crazy, my mother was enough, I couldn’t handle seeing him do it too.
“Thank you.”
I froze at his broken words. Thank you? I didn’t understand that at all. I felt his presence behind me and inhaled deeply, he probably didn’t have any idea how much he affected me.
“Don’t go. I want you here with me. I know it’s really late, but please stay with me.”
Well really, how could I say no?
I wasn’t going to question it too much. His eyes were glassy and bloodshot. He looked broken. There was no way I’d leave him like that if he didn’t want me to. I sat back down in the seat beside him and he pulled me closer to him, resting his head back on my shoulder.
The physical contact, however minimal, still scared me. It wasn’t something I had ever really been used to. Even as a little girl, the only person who ever showed me affection was my daddy and obviously, since he left, I hadn’t had any at all. Not a cuddle, not a quick hug, no one held my hand, no one stroked my hair. Nothing. I decided I wanted it, needed it even. It was like a small part of me was coming alive, each touch affected me in some way.
“I won’t pretend to understand, Ree. I don’t think there’s any way you could expect that of me. But I’ll respect your wishes, I won’t tell anyone. Do you think, no, what I mean is, seeing as I know now, I’m here...”
He made a noise of frustration in his throat and ran his hands through his hair, stopping at the ends to tug slightly. I didn’t understand what exac
tly his frustration was about so I stayed silent, waiting for him to say more. Seconds later, he took a deep breath, blew it out slowly, and started again.
“All I’m trying to say is, you don’t have be on your own anymore Ree. I know, I can tell, that there’s more to this than you’re letting on. I think I know why, so I’m just going to say that you can trust me. I wouldn’t ever betray you, I promise. We’re friends now and after what you’ve done for me, for my family, tonight I owe you the world. I want to be there for you from now on, so no more running away from me, ok?”
Something he’d said made my heart squeeze. Of course he didn’t want to hang out with me! How could I have been so bloody stupid? He was saying he was my friend because he thought he owed me? Forget it. Not happening. I would definitely, rather spend the rest of my life not having anyone in my life at all, than have a pity friend.
It made me angry.
I knew he was better than me, that was blindingly obvious. But to be friends with me out of some sort of misplaced feeling of debt...um I don’t think so.
I swallowed repeatedly and stared down at the floor to try and prevent the tears that had formed in my eyes, from falling. How stupid could I have been? I couldn’t believe that I’d actually gotten my hopes up with him. I never let myself hope. It’s useless. A girl like me didn’t have anything to hope for.
Stupid. Just so damn stupid.
“Whoa, hey, what’s put that look on your face?” His voice broke through my little self-depreciating moment and I blinked a few times to clear the moisture before looking back up at him.
“I don’t need you to be my friend Jamie. I do just fine by myself. More than anything, I definitely don’t need your bloody pity. I’ve done my bit now, Harvey’s in the best place for him at the minute. So can I leave? I want to go home.”
“Why would I pity you?” He asked, truly sounding bemused. I thought he must have been a really good actor. God, why did he have to be so beautiful? It would make the whole situation if I wasn’t so drawn to him.
“You just said it yourself! You feel like you owe me. Well you don’t. You don’t owe me anything Jamie, especially not your time.”
He made a slight grunt noise and answered, “Babe, please sit back down and listen to me, carefully ok?” He seemed to wait for an actual response so I just nodded back at him, telling him that I was listening to him. Then I sat back down. “The two things are not related. Yes, completely, definitely, indisputably, I owe you. That’s not up for debate, so don’t argue about it. But me wanting to spend time with you, wanting to get to know you better, it has nothing to do with that. Fair enough, if you don’t want to spend time with me, then I’m not going to push you on it, even though I wouldn’t understand. But don’t turn this around on me; I want to be your friend. I just want to really know you.”
I stared into his beautiful eyes for a few beats, trying to find any signs of dishonesty. None. He looked entirely truthful. Relief, like nothing I’d ever felt surged through me and I had the sudden urge to hug him. Literally just throw myself into his arms and squeeze, with everything that I had.
So I did.
I launched myself across the seat and threw myself into his arms. He stiffened at first but then I felt his body relax and his arms came around and pulled me closer. My throat was thick with unshed tears but I raised my head, looked him straight in the eye and whispered, “Thank you.”
“Nothing to thank me for babe. Everyone needs someone, sometimes.”
Well wasn’t that just the icing on the cake. I buried my face in his chest and savoured the feeling of his arms around me...and burst into tears. I don’t think he, or anyone else for that matter, could really understand how much those words meant to me. I believed in him, in his words. I believed he meant them. I felt his lips touch my hair, in a soft, whisper of a kiss and sobbed even more. He squeezed me even tighter and I burrowed as close as I could get to him.
“Why did you run away earlier?” He asked, a few minutes later.
There was no point in lying to him. “Same reason as I’ve just told you, Jamie. I have a gift or curse, however you want to look at it, and I didn’t want you to find out. It makes me abnormal, I guess I just thought that you were better off without my being around.” I shrugged, that’s exactly how I felt. It’s what I’d always been told, I was programmed to feel that way.
He tilted my chin up to look at him, our faces were centimetres away from each other. “I will never feel that way Rhianne. This psychic thing, it’s weird. I’m not going to deny that, because I’d never lie to you. I do find it odd, but only because I’ve never really heard of it in real life and I didn’t know a gift like that truly existed. It doesn’t make you a freak though babe, it makes you special. In a really, really good way. I’m honoured that you trusted me enough to tell me. Please don’t run from me again, I don’t like it. You can talk to me about anything and you can always trust me.”
Nothing else needed to be said.
I couldn’t help but feel, a really strong feeling...that, that moment right there, was going to be the beginning of the rest of my life.
Life like I’d never known it before.
Chapter Six
Escape
I opened my eyes and blinked a few times, trying to wake myself up. I curled my hands into my duvet and snuggled tighter, clinging to the warmth. I closed my eyes again briefly but soon opened them wide as soon as I felt a body move against me.
What?...Just, what?!
I felt an arm come around my waist and I was pulled backwards into a firm body. I panicked, immediately. My whole body tensed and I did the only thing I could do in the position I was in. I flung my head back, and heard a resounding crack! As soon as my head made contact, the arm moved and I jumped up, scrambling out of my bed.
No...wait...not my bed.
I froze in my tracks as the memories of the night before started coming back to me. We’d gone in to see Harvey and Jamie just sat there staring at him. He didn’t say a word so I encouraged him to speak to him. That’s what they say right? That people who are unconscious can sometimes still hear you?
I didn’t want to watch, I felt like I was intruding. So I took in everything around me instead, machines, wires, doors, windows, I looked at everything and anything that wasn’t directly involved. Then nothing. I didn’t remember what happened after that.
“What the fuck was that for?”
Jamie’s voice broke through my haze and I turned back. Lying in the bed, topless, and bleeding from the nose, Jamie stared at me like I’d lost my damn mind. I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. My mind was racing with questions, excuses, curse words...and I couldn’t find anything to say.
“Well?” he demanded. He looked pretty pissed off too, not that I could blame him exactly.
“I...um...” Nothing. Not a damn thing would come to me. So I just stood there, with my mouth hanging open, staring at him.
“I didn’t take you as the violent type Ree, so again, what the fuck?”
“I’m sorry, I am, really. I didn’t mean to hurt you, but, well, what am I doing here?”
That was good. Words. Yes, that’s exactly what was needed, speech. Finally, getting my brain and mouth to work together was paying off. Thank God. He frowned as if I’d asked a stupid question, then swore under his breath and stood up.
Hot damn! I’d never seen a boy topless before. Well ok, I had, on TV, and when they were playing football at college, or the weather was too hot. But not up-close and personal like that. I followed the plains of his abs with my eyes and bit my lip as my skin broke out in goose bumps. I couldn’t figure out what my reaction was, I’d never felt what I was feeling right then. It was like a compulsion to jump him. Thankfully, I didn’t do that though!
That’s not acceptable behaviour, I thought.
His body was one of those that you only get to see in films, like a Greek Adonis, the God of desire; that seemed to fit nicely. Everything about him screamed d
esire and lust and passion. Even the scrapes and bruises from the night before didn’t detract from just how beautiful he was. I wanted him.
I had never felt that way before.
He wasn’t overly muscley, just nicely defined and toned. The way his abs moved as he went to throw on a t-shirt made me went to run my fingers along the grooves that decorated his abdomen. He really was a work of art, no wonder all the girls fell at his feet.
“You fell asleep at the hospital, they didn’t let us stay for long anyway, but I couldn’t wake you and I thought your mum would go mental if I brought you home basically passed out. So I just let you sleep in here, and thought you could just go home today and explain.”
He could have been singing nursery rhymes for all I knew. I wasn’t listening to word he said. I was too busy staring at the tent in the front of his pyjama bottoms. Oh my gosh! Did I cause that?
I giggled, out loud. I smacked my hand over my mouth but tears were streaming from my eyes I was laughing that hard...
Hard! Haha! Get it?
Jamie frowned but he must have noticed what I was staring at because he blushed! Guys don’t blush, or not that I knew of. But he did. The he tried to mask his reaction.
“Giggling? Really Rhianne? Are you twelve? Yes, so I have morning wood. You wake up next to a beautiful girl, like I did, it’s bound to happen.”
My laughing stopped. Like every time he said something that was just that ridiculous. There was no way he could find me beautiful. I didn’t believe him. But I still felt my face flame. Every compliment he gave me, made me fall just that little bit deeper in love with him. I honestly believe that if we were living in a cartoon, I’d have love hearts shining in my eyes.
I was besotted with him.